The Commission's strategy is based on three objectives:

• Creating secure employment particularly in fisheries dependent areas: the target is the creation of 8 000 to 10 000 full-time job equivalents over the period 2003-2008.
   
• Providing safe and good quality fisheries products and promoting animal health and welfare standards.
   
• Ensuring an environmentally sound industry.

To meet these objectives, the Commission proposes the following measures:

• Secure employment

Employment in aquaculture offers alternative jobs for fishermen who leave the catching sector. The creation of new jobs in this sector will mainly be achieved by increasing production from 3.4% to 4% per year.

Increased production: this increase must come from diversification in new species and from making aquaculture more environmentally friendly. To achieve this, public aid
should be refocused on measures to strengthen existing businesses, encourage training, monitoring, research and development activities and promote clean farming technologies.

Special assistance could be provided for aquaculture activities that are particularly beneficial for environmental protection.Existing legislation on organic products will be extended to include aquaculture.

Tackling competition for space: in some areas, potential development is already hindered by competition for space between various users of coastal waters: small-scale fisheries, aquaculture, tourism… The Commission believes that
aquaculture should be integrated in strategies based on Integrated Coastal Zone Management which is best adapted to tackle multi-uses of the coastal areas.

Stimulating the market:
demand for aquaculture products could grow from the development of quality labels and measures to improve the image of the industry. Member States are encouraged to provide support for measures to collect and transfer
commercial information as better knowledge will help improve marketing. Fish farmers are urged to set up partnerships to co-ordinate supply as a way of making up for the lack of economy of scale of small farms.

Social considerations: aquaculture has an important role to play in rural and coastal development and in reversing decline in coastal communities. Member States are
encouraged to adapt funding opportunities for aquaculture in the context of the mid-term review of the EU structural funds in 2003-2004. The Commission underlines the role of women and encourages the use of European Social Fund programmes to
improve opportunities in aquaculture.

Improving governance: stakeholders must be more involved in the development of the aquaculture industry. Given the lack of specific legislation for aquaculture - though
there are national measures implementing EU Directives - there is scope for the development of codes of conduct and codes of practice to reduce the risk of distortion of competition.

• Safety of aquaculture products and animal welfare

Public health: the need to ensure a high level of health protection for the consumer has led to the adoption by the Commission of a recasting of legislation on hygiene of
foodstuffs. Reviews of the levels of dioxin in feed and food are planned for 2004 and 2006 with the aim of reducing the maximum tolerated levels. Current monitoring and
control of the presence of antibiotic and other residues in aquaculture products will be strengthened. More research on toxic algal blooms which threaten public health and
cause damages to fisheries and aquaculture is necessary as they represent one of the most serious limiting factors for the future of shellfish farming in Europe.

Animal health:
the Commission will carry out regular updates and simplification of the legislation on animal health. It also proposes to modify some of the existing pharmaceutical legislation in order to address the specific needs of aquaculture.

Animal welfare: improvements in the welfare of captive livestock can improve public perception of intensive farming. The Commission is currently involved in an initiative by
the Council of Europe to formulate a recommendation on farmed fish. When this recommendation is adopted, the Commission will consider proposing specific legislation.

• An environmentally sound aquaculture

Reduce the impact of waste: ways must be found to lessen the impact of waste from intensive fish farming to avoid the risk of deterioration of water quality around
aquaculture sites. The Commission encourages Member States and fish farmers to implement a number of mitigating measures including recourse to FIFG support for the installation of effluent treatment equipment.

Tackle the risk from alien species and genetically modified organisms: to avoid the loss of bio-diversity, the Commission will propose measures to manage the introduction of non-indigenous aquatic species consistent with the code of practice
developed by the international Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). It is also examining the need for specific rules on transgenic fish.

Pollution prevention and control and environmental impact assessment: the
Commission will consider the inclusion of intensive fish farming into the scope of the Directive on integrated pollution prevention and control which monitors industrial activities with a high pollution potential.

Research
: research is crucial to aquaculture. However, the costs of research and development preclude many aquaculture companies from investing the necessary resources into this field. It could be possible for FIFG to provide support for small-scale
applied research conducted by aquaculture businesses. Additional support should be made available under the 6th Framework Research Programme.

Background
While aquaculture has a long history in Europe, the development of intense fish farming is fairly recent. As such it is subject to the price instability which characterises new
agro-food industries enjoying rapid growth. Its future will depend on its ability to become economically self-sufficient and its capacity to respond to environmental constraints.

EU aquaculture provides at least 80 000 full or part-time jobs, equivalent to 57 000 full-time jobs. Aquaculture is spread widely over the EU, often in rural or peripheral
areas dependent on fisheries where alternative employment is chronically lacking. The main aquaculture products are fish (trout, salmon, sea bass, sea bream) and molluscs
(mussels, oysters and clams). In 2000, production amounted to 1 315 000 tonnes in volume for a value of ¥2 500 million representing 17% of the volume and 27% of the
value of the total EU fisheries production. This strategy for the sustainable development of European aquaculture is a manifestation of the importance that the Commission attaches to this sector.